Shares in Lok'n Store Group (LON:LOK) edged up by half a percent to 138.5p in early trading today on news that the AIM listed self-storage company had agreed the terms of a deal that will see it share its Maidenhead development site with Lidl, the major international supermarket retailer. Stock in the company opened 2010 at 90p and has performed strongly during the year, particularly since the end of the summer, with the stock gaining 9p during December alone.

Subject to achieving the requisite planning permission, under the collaborative project Lok’nStore will build a new state of the art self-storage centre which also provides space on the ground floor for a Lidl store. The new self-storage centre which is expected to open in 2013, will have around 58,000 square feet of self-storage space taking Lok’nStore’s total space to 1.2 million square feet.

Lok’nStore will grant a new lease to Lidl concurrent with its own lease. Lidl will share the ground floor space with Lok’nStore’s operation increasing the footfall by an estimated 1,000 cars a day. Lok’nStore will occupy and trade from its share of the ground floor and the three floors above.

The site is close to Maidenhead town centre and railway station and will be very prominent to the retail park on the main road joining the town centre with the M4 motorway. The store will be of similar style and appearance to other recently opened Lok’nStore centres with the company’s strong branding along with Lidl’s brand adding to the visual attractiveness of the site. This collaboration will increase the visual prominence, brand recognition, passing traffic and footfall of the storage centre which are key criteria for success.

Andrew Jacobs, the chief executive of Lok’nStore, said: “The new Maidenhead store will add to our portfolio of large, modern, new build self-storage centres across south-east England. These have proved resilient to the recession with prices and occupancy both rising over the last financial year. Lok’nStore has a strong asset-backed, cash-generative, operating business which gives us the ability to take advantage of the opportunities thrown up by the current volatility in the property market. Lok’nStore’s overall strategy has been to capitalise on its robust business model by maximising the cash flow from the existing portfolio and seeking innovative ways to improve and…

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